‘A guide to loving our gay kids well’ written by former Guam resident – Pacific Daily News
“‘Parenting the Rainbow’ is the resource I wish was available to us when first hearing the news that our son was gay. It is a guide to loving our gay kids well,” said Allison Zimmerman, a mother of five who raised her kids on Guam.
While on Guam, she and her husband, Rob, also opened two faith-based drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities under Elim Pacific Ministries: Lighthouse Recovery Center, now operated by the Salvation Army, and Oasis Empowerment Center, which serves women.
The Zimmermans lived on Guam until 2015 when Ethan Zimmerman son got into an accident while he was away at college.
“My son, that I wrote this book about, was on a date and he was crossing the road and a dump truck took a right on red and he ran over him,” she said in a video interview. “That was a nightmare. So I left Guam very quickly, got to D.C., and that’s why I left. We would still be there.”
The family relocated to California, where she is on the board of her church, which is called “the Stirring” in Redding, California, and began her writing career.
Her most recent work, “Parenting the Rainbow” was published in September. Ethan Zimmerman, who is part of the LGBTQ community, asked her to write the book to help other kids come out to their parents.
“They were really scared of telling their parents and just didn’t know how their particularly Christian parents would handle this because obviously there is a lot of homophobia out there,” she said.
“And so one day, it seemed random, but … he said ‘Alice, you should write a book about this. You’ve done pretty well.’ And that was it. He moved on. But it was like, you know a little seed was planted and it’s like … why not? So I did.”
“Honestly, maybe we can pray together that God will use (the book) to touch kids and their parents,” Zimmerman said. “My hope is that pastors will read it, that clergy will read it because the more we can get the message out, I think this is a good thing because people don’t realize how they treat other people. It matters. How we treat people matters and can have eternal effects.”
Guam recovery centers
Helping others has been something she and her husband have always done, and what led to the establishment of the Guam recovery centers.
“The people who worked in recovery were amazing people, and yeah, we did start the Lighthouse because there were no ongoing residential services. New Beginnings was starting something and they invited us up to be a part of what they were doing,” she said.
“So, I think we’ve always been interested in making a difference. And there’s loads of churches, there’s loads of schools, there are loads of colleges, and we had done all of the above and we got to Guam and it’s like ‘OK, where can the most difference be made?’”
A recovering addict they knew had nowhere to go “so we said, ‘Come and live with us. We’re just a humble family with five kids.’” After living with the Zimmermans for six months, the person was clean and sober.
“And so, kind of it was a process for sure … because we knew nothing, we didn’t know how to do this stuff, we just had a dream. And out of the dream was for the Lighthouse and then later on the Oasis. The Lighthouse and the Oasis, particularly the Oasis, has been the biggest privilege of our lives.”
Work isn’t done
After impacting their lives through their activism and her book, she said their work isn’t done yet.
“We are looking at returning to the Pacific. We’re kind of doing our homework, where will we fit? Where can we go where we can make a difference?”